(AP Photo)Nathan Horton has been under recent scrutiny for not being productive after jumping out to a quick points spurt in the beginning of the season.

Bruins (20-11-4) at Atlanta (19-14-6)

Bruins last 10: 6-3-1Atlanta's last 10: 4-3-3

Game time: 7 p.m.

This is the third of four meetings between the two clubs with its last coming only a week ago in a fiery brawl infested showdown.

Boston forward Shawn Thornton and Eric Boulton dropped the gloves two seconds into the contest and with 4:06 to go in the game Atlanta's Freddy Meyer elbowed Milan Lucic, which sent him down on the ice and led to five game misconducts handed out to eight players to tally 98 penalty minutes.

Lucic received a match penalty and was fined $2,500 for the punch thrown at Meyer and $1,000 for making an obscene gesture directed at the Thrashers bench. He was able to avoid suspension.

In the end, the Bruins came out on top with a 4-1 win at TD Garden and are hoping to continue their winning ways amidst their five-game, eight day road trip.

I'll be interesting to see if the Thrashers retaliate on Lucic for his actions. Atlanta normally isn't known as a bitter rival of Boston, but it's sure seemed that way during the last two meetings.

Bruins netminder Tim Thomas was the first goalie off the ice this morning at Philips Arena. This will be his seventh straight start.

B's notes: Boston is coming off a two-game, back-to-back night sweep of Florida teams, including a 3-2 shootout win against the Panthers and 4-3 victory over the Lightning. Overall the Bruins are on a three-game winning streak, which has given them sole rights of first place (44 points) in the Northeast Division over the Montreal Canadiens (42).

Winger Nathan Horton has been under some scrutiny recently for his scoring struggles and was benched during the third period of the Lightning game along with center Marc Savard. The benching resulted into Mark Recchi scoring the game-winning goal with 19.7 seconds left.

CSSNE.com's Joe Haggerty had an interesting tweet stating, "Nathan Horton has had one shot on net or less in 11 of his 35 games with the Bruins this season. That's way too many "no show" nights.

Matt Kalman of The Bruins Blog notes that Horton just needs to shoot more to become the player he's capable of being in Boston. In Tampa it was the fifth time in 35 games he's skated off the ice without testing the opposing goaltender.

Horton has two six-game pointless droughts this season (Nov. 20-Dec. 1, Dec. 15-Dec. 27) and the last goal he's recorded was back on Dec. 11 in a 2-1 overtime loss to Philadelphia at TD Garden.

Thrashers' notes: Atlanta is coming off a 6-3 defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins from Tuesday and also dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Lightning on Sunday since facing Boston.

The Thrashers were no match for Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby who had two goals and a pair of assists in the game.

Don't be surprised to see a rematch between tough guys Boulton and Thornton especially now since Atlanta has been on the losing end. This should make it very interesting.

This is the first of two games that Atlanta will be playing in a span of 24 hours as it has to travel to New Jersey next to face the Devils at 5 p.m. on New Year's Eve.

Other notes: Boston winger Gregory Campbell was under the weather and didn't participate in morning skate. He'll be a game-time decision...Michael Ryder has two goals and two assists in his last three games...Thrashers' center Bryan Little has a goal and six assists during his last five games and defensman Dustin Byfuglien leads all NHL blueliners with 14 goals and 38 points...The game will be televised on NESN. Check your local cable/satellite provider.